The Chinese military is making steady progress in the development of smart ammunition technology, the PLA Daily reported yesterday, which could prove especially threatening to Taiwan’s armored vehicles.

The Baicheng Weapon Test Center announced on Friday that it had made “a significant breakthrough” in the development of technology known as terminal sensing ammunition, adding that the People’s Liberation Army had completed the theoretical work, including design, analysis, simulation, tests and evaluation of the new projectile.

Terminal-sensing ammunition, also known as sensor-detonated ammunition or “smart ammunition,” are projectiles that can identify the presence of a target at the end of its ballistic trajectory and automatically direct submunitions, similar to cluster bomblets, to explode in the target’s direction.

During a recent demonstration at the test center, a terminal-sensing projectile flew over the target site and discharged a series of terminal-sensing submunitions, which deployed mini-parachutes and searched for their target.

Terminal-sensing projectiles, which are relatively cheap to produce, can be fired or launched from cannons, long-range surface-to-surface missiles, air-to-ground missiles and bombs.

They are regarded as an especially promising weapon to attack the roof section of vehicles such as tanks and armored personnel carriers.

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